Dr. William L. Dewey: Friends of NIDA

At the meeting of The National Advisory Council for The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) on February 8, 2006 Dr. Nora D. Volkow, the director of the institute presented Dr. William L. Dewey with the institutes' Public Service Award. The inscription on the plaque presented to Dewey states " In recognition of his pioneering vision in creating Friends of The National Institute on Drug Abuse, and for outstanding leadership in raising public awareness about drug abuse and addiction research." The Friends of NIDA is a coalition of 150 scholarly organizations collectively representing over 2 million people, professional societies, patient groups and others committed to the elimination of drug abuse and addiction through education, advocacy and the promotion of broad public and private support for the research agenda of NIDA. Activities of the two year old coalition include the presentation of many briefings on drug abuse and addictive diseases for congressional members and staff, continual interactions with congressional offices including visits to appropriate members of congress and constant input to all federal policy makers on issues related to drug abuse and addition. Now the coalition is starting on its second phase that is to educate the public at large about the benefits of the research advances and future research efforts needed to solve the diseases of addiction.

Pictured: Nora D. Volkow, M.D., NIDA director presenting the ‘Friends of NIDA’ award to Dr. Dewey